200 Comedians Pose for 'Funny Business'

by Nicole Rupersburg

Brooklyn-based photographer Seth Olenick will release Funny Business, his debut photography book, on November 6. In it he documents 200 of the biggest comedians from the last two decades, many of whom are Miami regulars. As a long-time lover of left-of-center comedy (particularly the alternative comedy scene that emerged in the '90s with TV shows like The State and TheKids in the Hall), Olenick started developing the idea for Funny Business in 2006. After six-and-a-half years of shooting a comedic cross-section of both household names and then-unknowns, Olenick's book is now available for pre-order. Here, he shares some images from the book and the funny stories that accompany them. No babies were harmed in the making of this book, though one was schmeared with mayo.

Lake Bell
"All I can think of when I look at this photo is my colleague, April. It was her oversize lipstick case that I used for this shoot. Even though I assured her it would be fine, moments before this shot was taken the lid to the lipstick fell down the stairs, shattering into five pieces. Lake was very comforting about it all."

Jon Hamm
"Seeing Jon Hamm as a sad or timid princess was the perfect juxtaposition to the alpha male, Don Draper, that made him a household name."

Jason Sudeikis
"The idea of having a deconstructed burger came to me the day before, and I knew where I would go the day of the shoot to get the burger. So there I was at Lite Bites in Greenpoint [Brooklyn] asking for a burger with each element wrapped up in its own wrapper."

Aubrey Plaza
"When I look at my photos, sometimes I only see the things that aren't in the photos themselves. In this case, it's the fact that in between each time we did this, Aubrey and I were on our hands and knees picking up each individual piece of chocolate to put back into the heart-shaped box just to release them all over again."

Lance Krall
"The thing that gets me about this photo is that almost every time I show it to people their first question is where I got a slice of bread that large. I guess schmearing a baby with mayo on a bed of lettuce is slightly less important."

Lizzy Caplan
"When I saw this cabinet that was home to Lizzy's cable box and other personal items, I knew that I wanted to get photos of her inside of it. Sure, sometimes my ideas come from a deeply-rooted philosophical place. In this case, maybe I was subconsciously channeling the struggle of woman to find her place in this world despite the limitations put on her by man. Then again, maybe I just thought it would be funny to see Lizzy Caplan inside of a cabinet."

Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome (aka Garfunkel and Oates)
"It seemed like an obvious idea, but I couldn't resist . . . Seeing Riki and Kate made to look like Art Garfunkel and John Oates just makes me laugh."

While the book begins with a forward by John Mulaney, the audio version of Funny Business promises two-plus hours of hilarious commentary by Dave Hill.